Built in 1963 for businessman Gordon Stanley Carpenter, this two-storey housebarn (attached barn and residential space) along the Assiniboine River, west of Headingley in the Rural Municipality of St. Francois Xavier, featured unusual pyramid-shaped cupolas, with horse stables on its lower level and a four-bedroom accommodation for staff on its upper level. Known as Marshall Brook Farms (named for Marshall Brook Motors, Carpenter’s used-car dealership in Winnipeg), the facility had a lounge and tack shop while property to the immediate east, owned by grain merchant George Sellers, had an indoor riding arena and galloping track. An inaugural horseshow was held at the site on 22 December 1963.
In 1973, the building was purchased by former Blue Bomber player James Leonard “Jim” Heighton who owned it into 2015. In the early 1980s, it was featured in the Manitoba Cooperator newspaper as part of a series on rural architecture.
Carpenter Housebarn (early 1980s)
Source: Robert Hainstock
Carpenter Housebarn (October 2014)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.87624, W97.48569
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Co-operator Rural Buildings Series
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sellers Barn (RM of St. Francois Xavier)
Memorable Manitobans: Gordon Stanley Carpenter (1923-?)
Memorable Manitobans: George Henry Sellers (1914-1986)
Memorable Manitobans: James Leonard “Jim” Heighton (1944-2023)
“Horseshow opens new riding stables,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 December 1963, page 11.
“Former Bomber selling his house stable” by Bill Redekop, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 December 2014.
We thank Jean Ammeter for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Bob Hainstock, Ed Ledohowski, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 September 2024
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